March and April

February, March, and April are a blur as the time flew by filled with tons of things to do.  Between student teaching, young womens, my online classes, and running my children to their different activities I have been so tired.  If I slow down for just a minute, I want to take a short nap.  Several times, we have sat down as a family for a leisurely movie on a Friday night, however, I can't keep my eyes open to enjoy it.

Greg had lasik surgery in March.  He researched several doctors and had a pre-op visit at a clinic here in Idaho Falls to determine if he was a candidate.  He qualified, and we went down to Utah for surgery.  We have been pleased with the results and he loves not having to wear glasses or contacts.  His vision has steadily improved and he can see better than I can now.

I took my last Praxis test for Idaho certification.  Every time I go, the experience is nerve racking.  There are so many people there to take the same tests I am.  I had no way of studying for this one because it was a summary of all that I learned.  In addition, it was all written, and so I had to be really careful about what the questions were asking and write as much as I could for each question being mindful of my time.  I got my results back, I passed with flying colors!

I participated in New Beginnings, the second one I have attended in the last year or so.  A couple of my YW put the night together and they did a marvelous job.  I gave a short talk with the help of the Spirit that touched the hearts of those who were there.

During April, Rebekah and I attended an EFY at BYU-Idaho.  She also had a festival performance the same day on campus so we made a day of it.  She performed, then we shopped for bargains, had lunch, and headed back to campus for EFY.  We laughed and had our spirits strengthened.  The musical performance was wonderful.  On the way home we were admiring the fields of deer in the twilight.  As we neared Rigby, I saw a deer cross the highway in front of us so we slowed way down.  Another deer hesitated a couple of times than ran across the road in front of us.  Even though we were going slow, the impact broke some pieces of our car, left the animal still breathing, and we were without a cell phone.  A man helped call the accident in.  We didn't dare move the deer until it was dead for fear of it getting up and running away.  Our car was drivable so we went home and made a few phone calls.  An officer came out to the house to review the damage.  It was a crazy night~our first deer ever, and we didn't even get to bring it home.

We went to Mesquite, Nevada at the end of April for spring break.  Greg planned this vacation.  We stopped at the Lasik place so Greg could have a check-up.  We ate at a great little eatery called "Jason's deli".  Delish!  Then, Greg drove us the rest of the way.  We stayed in a beautiful condo with Greg's mom and sister.  We rode every day.  This year we found water in places we have never seen it before adding an extra challenge to the trip.  Greg even tested us on the final day and rode us through the sand.  We had a lot of fun finding geocaches along the way and enjoyed the flora and fauna of the desert and mountains.  No major injuries this year except a few sunburns.  It was 85 degrees while we were there but thankfully we were blessed with a breeze.  The kids played in the swimming pool, spent some money at the arcade, and we all enjoyed a night at the buffet.  It was a great break for us all.  Thanks to Grandpa Grover for watching Lucky!

I came back from vacation for my last week of student teaching.  On Tuesday, the principal of the elementary where I was working came in and asked when I would be available for an interview on Wednesday.  I showed up to the interview, and the principals were having a crazy party.  I interrupted and sat down before five district principals.  They asked me the first question about my background and when I had finished they said they thought I had answered all of their questions but went through the formality of asking the rest of the questions on their papers.  I was so confident, answered the questions fully, and came out of the interview feeling I had nailed it.  An hour later, I was teaching a student one-on-one, and another student came up and asked me, "Mrs. Thurber wants to know if you want a job here at South Fork Elementary next year?"  He's one of my jokesters so I asked him to repeat himself while I processed the situation.  I started to cry as I looked up and saw the principal through the window in the door of our classroom.  She came in and told me not to cry and I told her "Yes, you don't know how much I would like that."  She congratulated me on the panel's decision to hire me as a teacher for next year.  I could choose between 1st and 4th grade.  Long story short, I will be a 4th grade teacher next year!  Yea!